Limestone Quarry Project Planned

By 250 News

Google Earth image of area  for proposed Limestone Quarry and plant    

Graymont Western Canada has  the mineral claims for a proposed limestone quarry on Crown Lands about 4 kms southeast of Giscome.  It wants to  also build a lime plant on privately owned lands about 1km northeast of Giscome on the C N  rail line.

The quarry would cover approximately 200 hectares and produce up to 1.2 million tonnes of limestone per year and a plant that would produce up to  400,000 tonnes of lime per year.  Construction would  require approximately 45 person years of work, and the operation of the lime plant and quarry will create 30 direct "high paying" jobs and another 60 indirect jobs.

The V.P  of Marketting for Graymont, Jeff Higgs says the plant would operate 24 -7 with 2 shifts and the quarry could be in operation for many decades   "This Giscome deposit is a massive deep deposit, which  will last at least 25 years, possibly  there are enough reserves to double or even triple that."

The company  says it has already completed significant exploration activity and background studies to support this development and is now preparing the applications for the project as well as finalizing arrangements for  public consultion with local and regional stakeholders.

The first phase would be a $90 million dollar investment. Phase 2 would see another $40 million dollar investment.

The timing of all of this is still not nailed down as the Environmental  process has yet to be complete. At best guess the  environmental assessments could be wrapped up later this year,  the review complete by August next year, and, if all goes according to the Graymont plan,  it would be operational in the last quarter of 2010.

Then there's rezoning as the property is in the Agricutural Land Reserve, and  the Regional District would have to  make site specific  zoning.

The company says it has already  held discussions with Lheidli T'enneh and will hold an open house in the Giscome community possibly as early as June 1st.  There are also plans for a newsletter, stakeholder meetings, open houses, a web site, and a toll free number.

The only issue which seemed to raise any eyebrows, is the  fuel source to create the heat needed to fire the kilns.  The company says it plans on using coal, but will look at the possibiity of  beetle kill bio mass  "It all depends on economics" says Higgs.

A Canadian company with headquarters in Richmond, Graymont  has 14 plants in  Canada and the United States, employing 1200 people. 

On its website, Graymont describes itself as a "family owned company whose management team and employees are dedicated to meeting or exceeding customer needs. The company is focused on high calcium and dolomitic lime, value added lime based products such as specialty hydrates and precipitated calcium carbonates, and in the aggregate and pulverized stone business.

Graymont takes a long term view of its business and the lime industry. Graymont has been in the lime business for over 50 years and operates facilities on sites that have been in operation for up to 200 years. Graymont is among the leaders in the industry in adding new efficient plants and equipment and operates some of the most modern facilities on the continent.  Since 1989 Graymont has built close to 2 million tons of new state of the art capacity and will continue to add new capacity to meet market demand."

Graymont is the third largest producer of lime in North America. It has operations in Canada from New Brunswick to B.C..

The Giscome product would be used for acid rain reduction and acid mine waste reduction both in Alberta and in Alaska.

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